Michael was born and raised in Hickory, NC. He attended North Carolina State University where he received his B.S. in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. Upon graduation, he worked on a fawn survival study at Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge in Tallulah, LA and then worked on a deer translocation study in western NC. Michael has worked on deer research projects in North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida, and Georgia.

Michael is working on the South Georgia trail camera study. His research is focused on the influences of environmental and seasonal factors on white-tailed deer activity patterns. In particular, he is investigating how temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, and precipitation affect activity throughout the year. Unlike similar studies, Michael is using passive trail cameras to calculate activity rates rather than GPS collars. Michael works in the UGA Deer Lab and the Chandler Applied Ecology Lab and is co-advised by Dr. Karl Miller and Dr. Richard Chandler.